[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15483-15484]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                 ENERGY

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I thank my good friend the majority 
leader for allowing me to go ahead. My remarks will be briefer than 
his.
  All across the country, Americans are feeling the sting of record 
high gas prices at the pump. The cost of food is rising along with the 
price of gas. Truckers and stay-at-home parents and commuters and 
vacationers are frustrated at paying more for gas than any of them ever 
imagined.
  The situation is urgent. It demands our full attention, and it 
demands a serious legislative response.
  And though a barrel of crude oil costs roughly three times what it 
did when Democrats took over Congress a year and a half ago, so far, 
the Democrat leadership has been timid about solutions. They have 
treated high gas prices as a distraction. But the time for timidity has 
passed. Americans are demanding that Congress do something to lower the 
high price of gas, and they won't be fooled by gimmicks or half-
measures.
  The majority leader has moved to a bill that only addresses the issue 
of speculation. But no serious person thinks passing this legislation 
alone will fix the problem. I don't know of any reputable economists 
who think that simply addressing the futures market will significantly 
affect the price of gas.
  Warren Buffett, the most famous rich Democrat in America, dismisses 
the idea.
  T. Boone Pickens--who will be meeting with the Democrats tomorrow--
dismisses the idea.
  The Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, dismisses the 
idea.
  Serious economists on all sides dismiss the idea.
  The 27-nation International Energy Agency dismisses the idea.
  Strengthening regulation of the futures market is a worthwhile piece 
of any legislative effort, but let's be clear from the outset: it is 
just a piece--and a small piece at that.
  We need to think about the scope of this problem and act boldly. 
Problems this big require a bigger solution than a single idea by a 
single Member of Congress, not timid attempts to address only part of 
the problem.
  As the senior Senator from Tennessee has said, can you imagine if 
President Kennedy had acted timidly when launching the space mission? 
What do you think the reaction would have been if he had declared we 
will go only a fraction of the way to the Moon?
  Good ideas from both sides should be considered. And Americans, we 
know, are demanding nothing less.
  They are demanding, above all, that we treat high gas prices for what 
they are: the single most important domestic issue facing Americans 
today. And they will know we are doing so when they see us dealing head 
on with supply and demand. Increased global demand for oil is not going 
down anytime soon. This means gas prices will not go down unless supply 
goes up.
  And with gas prices now well above $4 a gallon, the time has come for 
those

[[Page 15484]]

who oppose a balanced approach to retreat from their long-held 
opposition to targeted and responsible oil exploration at home. They 
need to unlock the Outer Continental Shelf and lift their ban on the 
development of the vast oil shale deposits in western States.
  America is the third-largest oil producer in the world. We possess 
within our own borders triple the amount of oil potential of Saudi 
Arabia with oil shale alone. It is time for the opponents of a balanced 
approach to unlock these vast domestic resources that will allow us to 
finally start the process of increasing domestic supply even as we work 
together toward a future free from dependence on Middle East oil.
  Our friends have been reluctant until now to unlock these vast 
domestic reserves because of an aversion to fossil fuels and a sluggish 
attitude toward legislating in the middle of a Presidential election 
year. But Americans are more concerned right now about paying for 
gasoline and groceries than they are about the political calendar. And, 
over the past couple of weeks, a number of our friends on the other 
side have indicated they want a balanced solution too.
  So far, a dozen Democrats have expressed some level of openness to 
new domestic exploration. We are approaching a bipartisan consensus on 
the need to increase domestic supply. But their leadership isn't there. 
Their Presidential nominee opposes every effort to increase supply. The 
Speaker of the House is walking in lock-step with Al Gore.
  It is time for Republicans and Democrats to come together on high gas 
prices. It is time to put aside old and outdated prejudices about 
offshore exploration, which is being done safely by countless other 
countries around the world and here at home too. It is time to use the 
resources we have and stop timidly nibbling around the edges. It is 
time to deliver for the American people. It is time to do what we were 
sent here to do.
  A serious solution is already at hand. The Gas Price Reduction Act, 
with 44 coponsors, features a speculation piece that addresses the 
concerns of the bill the Democratic leadership would have us vote on 
tomorrow. But it is bolder than just that. It also contains the 
elements of a serious energy bill. It faces supply and demand head on 
by lifting the ban on Western oil shale development and opening up 
exploration far from the shores of the states that want it. And it 
promotes energy efficient vehicles like plug-in electric cars and 
trucks.
  The Gas Price Reduction Act was written with one bipartisan principle 
in mind: find more, use less. If we adopt it, the American people will 
see that Congress is taking their concerns seriously.
  Anything short of this bill will not be welcomed by the American 
people and will prove to be a waste of energy. If we pass the 
speculator piece alone, Americans will continue to demand a serious 
solution that gets at supply and demand. But we can avoid such a 
disappointment now by getting behind a proposal that directly addresses 
the price of gas at the pump.
  This is a big problem, and the problem is bigger than just 
speculation; good ideas from all sides should be considered. It is what 
the American people demand.

                          ____________________